Rinsing, wetting and sheeting agents are used in a variety of applications to lower the surface tension of water to allow a solution to wet surfaces more effectively. Wetting agents are included in numerous compositions including, but not limited to, cleaning solutions, antimicrobial solutions, paints, adhesives, and inks. A number of wetting agents are currently known, each having certain advantages and disadvantages. There is an ongoing need for improved wetting agent compositions.
Rinsing agents are commonly used in mechanical warewashing machines including dishwashers which are common in the institutional and household environments. Such automatic warewashing machines clean dishes using two or more cycles which can include initially a wash cycle followed by a rinse cycle, and optionally other cycles, for example, a soak cycle, a pre-wash cycle, a scrape cycle, additional wash cycles, additional rinse cycles, a sanitizing cycle, and/or a drying cycle. Rinse aids or rinsing agents are conventionally used in warewashing applications to promote drying and to prevent the formation of spots on the ware being washed. In order to reduce the formation of spotting, rinse aids have commonly been added to water to form an aqueous rinse that is sprayed on the ware after cleaning is complete. A number of rinse aids are currently known, each having certain advantages and disadvantages. There is an ongoing need for improved rinse aid compositions, namely those suited for use on plastic wares.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the claimed invention to develop efficient surfactant systems for rinse aid applications, including warewashing applications for plastics and other wares.
A further object of the invention is to provide rinse aid surfactant systems providing improved sheeting, wetting and fast drying without spots, particularly for plastics and other wares.
A further object of the invention is to provide a synergistic combination of surfactants to provide the same benefits at low active levels, including surfactant systems suitable for liquid and solid formulations which are suitable for low and high temperature applications.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.